This may be the first year that NRS has decided to take a stand and close our doors on Black Friday, choosing to instead spend the “busiest shopping day of the year” outside paying homage to what’s truly important to us. But it isn’t the first year our employees have chosen to celebrate Turkey Day on the river. It may be cold, especially up here in the Northwest, the chance for precipitation high, and the need for extra gear—drysuits, down sleeping bags, extra wind tarps—a must, but eating turkey around a fire with the sounds of water and nature, in lieu of Christmas carol renditions, makes for a lasting memory.

And it’s free. Or nearly free. For the same amount of prep, time, and money as a traditional Thanksgiving Feast around a mahogany table, you can build a lasting tradition in the great outdoors.

But just how should you start prepping for a Thanksgiving river trip? Like you would any other cold-water boating trip. It really boils down to three must-haves: safety, warmth, and damn good food.

Keep in mind that the end of November can be frigid, windy, and wet. All standard cold-water boating guidelines should be taken into consideration, including packing extra shelter (whether a wall tent or a couple extra River Wings), firewood (locally collected driftwood may be covered with snow and is no doubt water logged), and proper gear to keep you warm (insulation, insulation, insulation). For the kitchen, be sure to pack a couple dutch ovens, preferably 12 inches or larger, pots, pans, and a turkey fryer kit.

A river feast isn’t about following recipes to a T. It’s about camaraderie and toasts, fully bellies, laughs, and stories around a campfire. With that in mind, feel free to tweak the below recipes for your party’s particular taste. Each recipe offers the required ingredients. An extra dash of this, or a little less of that is completely up to you and encouraged. In our riverside cooking experience, if it smells good, it’s going to taste good. And generally, when it comes to dutch-oven cooking, when you can smell your concoction, you have five-ten minutes left.

The Menu:

Make-Ahead Mama Miller’s Famous Rolls

1 cup milk
½ cup butter
¾ cup of sugar
1 cup very warm water
2 packages of dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of salt
4 ½ to 5 cups of flour
Tin foil for re-heating

This is the one recipe we recommend following to the T and baking the day before put-in. From start to finish, these rolls take four-five hours. Plan accordingly. They may be high maintenance, but it comes from solid sources, that these rolls are the best thing that will go in your mouth this Thanksgiving.

Add milk, butter and ¾ cup sugar in a saucepan and heat on stove until butter is melted.  Set aside and cool slightly. In the meantime, pour two packages of yeast into a cup or bowl with about one cup (a little less or a little more) of very warm water. Don’t get the water too hot or your yeast will not rise. Add two teaspoons of sugar to the bowl and stir to dissolve. Yeast should rise and double in size.

In a mixer, add two eggs, salt and milk mixture and beat slightly. When the yeast has raised enough, add to egg and milk mixture, blend and start adding the flour. The dough should have a dull finish to it, not a glossy one. If it feels too wet (or too sticky) just add a little more flour.

Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and knead for a few minutes, then put in a well-greased, extra large bowl to rise. Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour so the dough won’t dry out. Cover with cloth and put somewhere warm to rise. You can warm your oven to 250 degrees for a few minutes, then turn off and raise your dough in the oven. Keep dough away from drafts.

It usually takes about one hour to rise, then punch down and knead a bit, adding flour as needed. Just enough flour so your hands don’t stick to dough. Let dough rise two times, then turn out on a floured surface and knead again. For clover leaf rolls, make three small balls and put in each cup of a greased muffin pan or divide dough two pieces and put into greased loaf pans for bread. Let the dough in the muffin or loaf pans rise for about 45 minutes to an hour and then bake at 350 degrees until the bread is golden brown.

Once at camp, wrap rolls in tinfoil and throw onto the coals five-ten minutes before you’re ready to eat. Top with butter pats for extra oomph.

Spiced Cider

First and foremost, you are going to need a drink, because a holiday meal without a signature cocktail is a holiday meal lacking festivity. A favorite cold-weather, on-the-water beverage is Spiced Cider.

What you’ll need:
A six-pack of your favorite canned hard cider (or non-alcoholic for the kiddos), reserving one can for the dessert
A few cinnamon springs
Bottle of choice whiskey

Bring the cider to a rolling boil. Toss in a few cinnamon sprigs for added flavor. If you’ve warmed up non-alcoholic cider, mix a separate pot with warmed cider and a few cups of whiskey. (Taste the cider between cups, cider does a great job of masking the whiskey.) With a mug of this hot, tasty beverage in hand, chefs and non-chefs will be warm, happy, and ready to cook.

Boxed Wine 

For those not willing to wait for a warm drink. It at least warms your soul—if you opt for the red varieties—it’s boxed for convenience and easy transport. There’s no prep. And rumor has it, the bag inside makes for a great makeshift pillow.

Fire-Charred Brie and Crackers

This quick-and-easy appetizer will keep all bellies from rumbling while the turkey is frying. Take a round of Brie cheese and slowly heat on a skillet or griddle, regularly flipping until the interior is warm and gooey. Plate it and top with dried cranberries and chopped, toasted nuts (we recommend pecans or walnuts). Circle around, smear on crackers, and enjoy!

Baked Fennel

A quarter of a large fennel bulb/person cut horizontally into 1/3” – 1/2” slices (reserve fronds)
Salt & pepper to taste
Thyme
Melted butter or olive oil
Panko bread crumbs
Parmesan Cheese

This side-dish requires a 12 inch or larger dutch oven. Brush the bottom of your dutch with butter or olive oil and set it on the coals. Place fennel slices in the bottom of the dutch. You don’t need much space in between each slice, but don’t crowd, or stack them. Brush the top of those slices with butter, (olive oil is a suitable substitute, butter works best, but it can be harder to melt on the river), sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme and cover. You will want to let that sit for at least 20 minutes, or until the fennel is fragrant. If your senses are a little numb (from booze or cold), the fennel should be easy to pierce with a fork. At this point, uncover and liberally sprinkle panko crumbs and Parmesan cheese on top. Remove from the coals and let sit, covered, for five-ten minutes. Plate it, top with the reserved chopped fennel fronds, and serve warm.

Deep Fried Turkey

If you want to deep fry a big bird you have to buy a turkey-frying rig. It will come with instructions and there are tons of resources online, but here are some tips.

A riverside beach in late November can be cold and windy. Build a three-sided windbreak around your fryer. You can use paddles or River Wing poles for uprights. Or, as if you needed another reason to pack those tiki torches—they can block the wind by day and light up the camp by night. Wrap something like a tarp around the uprights.

Now that your kitchen is erect, follow these directions carefully: Be sure the turkey is dry, heat the oil slowly, and lower the bird slowly. Keep kids, dogs and drunks away from the fryer. Be prepared for rain or snow; bring an umbrella, for the fryer, not for you. If it’s cold, tending the fryer is the warmest place on the beach. As a general turkey-cooking rule, fry your turkey three minutes for every pound. (A 15-pound bird will take 45 minutes, so schedule the remaining menu items accordingly.)

Ian’s Three-Cheese Dutch Oven Potatoes

One russet potato/person, washed, cleaned of spots, and chopped 1” slices
Basil, Oregano, Salt & pepper
Butter
Sour Cream
Parmesan & white cheddar cheeses
Cream cheese

Fill a pot with liberally salted water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, toss in the potatoes and reduce to a simmer. Cook until easily punctured with a fork. Strain potatoes, making sure to follow the local regulations on food disposal and straining water. Repeat the prep process with the dutch from your delicious fennel snacks, brush with olive oil and heat. (This is a process that’s usually unnecessary when it’s warm out, but helps quite a bit when you are cold-water cooking.)

Add the potatoes to the dutch with a quarter to half a stick of butter, depending on how gluttonous you’re feeling. Add about half a cup of sour cream, half a block of cream cheese, parmesan and cheddar to your liking (we tend to go pretty heavy with our cheese). Mash the ‘taters, whip all the above ingredients into the level of creaminess you prefer. Season with salt, pepper, basil, and oregano to taste. Don’t cook the potatoes longer than 20-30 minutes. Uncover and top with more parmesan and cheddar. Let sit while the turkey rests.

Mama Nicely’s Candied Sweet Potatoes 

Sweet potatoes peeled and cut into “steak fry” lengths
Butter
Brown sugar, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves, etc

Place the sweet potatoes into a heated skillet, add butter, brown sugar and water to cover. Sprinkle on cinnamon. Mama Nicely never used nutmeg or ground cloves, but you could. Simmer until water is evaporated, potatoes are soft and a warm candy glaze coats all. Mama Nicely hardly ever measured ingredients. Wing it.

Spiced Upside Down Cake

1 box favorite spice cake mix
Apples, peeled and sliced
Butter
1 Cup hard cider
Nutmeg, Brown sugar, Raw cane sugar

When on the river, desert can be one of the highlights of a day, and it is absolutely mandatory after a Thanksgiving meal. One of our falls favorites is Spiced Upside Down cake.

Use your favorite spiced cake mix, whether you like to make it from scratch or from a box is up to you.  On the river, we always opt for convenience and strongly suggest using boxed cake mixes, you can always doctor them up with a few simple tips and tricks.

You’ll want enough apple slices to cover the bottom of a 12″ dutch. Heat the apple slices in a pan, adding in a liberal amount of butter. Add cinnamon, a cup or so of hard apple cider (it works just fine for the kiddos, the alcohol will cook out), nutmeg, and brown sugar to the mix once the apples start to soften.  Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes, or until the apples are very tender and the juices have thickened into a syrupy sauce.

While your apples are cooking, mix the spiced cake batter.  Brush the bottom and sides of the dutch oven with butter (you need more than you think, so the cake slides out when it is ready), and pour in your apple mixture, saving some of the syrup.  Top the apples with the cake batter, and sprinkle the top with raw cane sugar, a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Bake the cake for 25-40 minutes.  5-10 minutes after you smell it, it will be ready, or very close to ready.

Let the cake cool considerably, or it will not come loose from the pan. (Giving the dutch a quick river bath ensures nothing is attached to the bottom or sides.) Gather the troops for the unveiling of this cake.  Give it one really solid whack on the table. If there’ no large handle on your dutch lid, leave it on, otherwise, remove it and perform the slam on a cutting board.

If everything went well, you should have a beautiful upside down cake topped with some wonderful apple pie filling, drizzle with reserved syrup and serve. Additional topping options include whip cream, or to add a little extra holiday spirit to the dish, add a tablespoon or two of pre-cooked pumpkin pie mix to the cake batter.

Stuffing
Rolls or Cornbread (If you’d rather not take the time to make Mama Miller’s.)
Mac & Cheese
Pie/Cookies 

These are a few essentials that a Thanksgiving feast just isn’t complete without. But there’s no shame in a few menu items being store bought, straight from the box, and easy to cook. You’re on a river and you’ve landed on your sandy Turkey Day destination via raft. Gear storage is limited. Make your favorite dishes from scratch and throw in a couple boxed sides to add to the abundance and convenience. We recommend leaving these items to the manufacturer. Cook each as directed.

Tips & Tricks

A good rule to use for dutch oven cooking is Three Up, Three Down. This means, based on the size of your dutch oven, you will have three extra coals on top of the dutch, and three fewer coals underneath. For example, a 12” dutch, will need 24 coals—nine on the bottom, and 15 on top. It doesn’t hurt to have a few extra coals on hand in case it’s really cold out. I generally add two-three extra coals on top, and one or two on the bottom, if the temperature drops toward freezing. Use a clear glass of water to level the dutch oven when you’re cooking anything liquid.

Thick leather gloves (as in welding gloves), tongs, a metal slotted spoon for coals, vice grips, and steel wool will make your cooking and clean-up life a lot easier. Neoprene gloves work great for any type of cold-water immersive food prep, like washing the potatoes.

Spend some time to make sure your knives are sharp before the trip. Sharp knives are safe knives, and the less time you are hacking through your potatoes, the more time you have to enjoy your cider. Duct Tape and cardboard can make a really solid knife sheath in a minute flat.

Please remember Leave No Trace philosophy after your feast, especially when cleaning up after the turkey. The only solution we’ve come up with for disposing of your fry oil is, once it has cooled completely, funnel it back into the container it was packaged in and pack it back out with you.

Let’s be honest, Thanksgiving on the river could be just as much fun if you opted for cold sandwiches and canned baked beans. But the reality is, it only takes a couple dutch ovens and a little creativity to pull off an outdoor, off-the-grid Thanksgiving feast.

Author’s note: All the above recipes can also be made inside four walls with an oven. If you’re opting to stay inside this chilly Thanksgiving, that’s okay, we just hope you’re spending time with those that are important to you in a place that’s meaningful. (Psst: post-feasting hikes help kick start your metabolism.)